Improvement in gig-saddles



Witnesses.-

J. B. GATHRIGHT.

GIG SADDLE.

'Patented Dec.5, 1876.

THE GRAPHIC COMM UNITED STATES JOSIAH B. GATHRIGHT, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

IMPROVEMENT IN GIG-SADDLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 185.023, dated December 5, 1876; application filed August 18, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSIAH B. GATHRIGHT, of the city of Louisville, county of Jefl'erson, State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Construction of are cut in the skirts for the loops and terrets,

and corresponding openings cut and punched in the pasteboard. The openings for the loops, however, are out, not merely to allow the ends to be put through from the top, but large enough to allow the Whole loop to be put through from below, (see Fig. 1,) and so that the loop, when finished, will nicely fit and till it. Taking now two bands of elastic metal (one for each side) from'five-eighths inch to seveneighthsinch wide, according to width of saddle, andlong enough to reach from the terrets to the billets of the saddle, I rivet securely to them (preferably around them) leather, or

other material suitable for the loops. (See Fig. 2.) v

The bands with the loops (finished or unfinished) are now attached to the pasteboards as follows: Aslot is out across the pasteboard at a, and the lower end of the band put through it, and the'loop put through its opening b, all as seen in Fig. 1. The pasteboard is now turned over, and the lower plate 0 of the tree, with the terret-nut in position, is

tacked to it at the proper place, the upper end of the iron band being between it and the pasteboard, all as seen in Fig. 3. I now stitch the welts or facings to the pad-lining, as seen in Fig. 4. They are, of course, stitched down to the right side of the goods used for padlining at a suitable distance from the edges, with their folded edges-that is, the edge which incloses the rattan inwardly, and the open or double edges lying out toward the outer edges of the pad-lining. The lining is now turned over-that is, wrong side upthe pasteboard-frame laid on it about evenly, and the lining drawn over the edges and tacked down to the pasteboard, as seen in Fig. 5. The tacks should be clinched, as they are driven, upon an iron bar thrust in for that purpose between the pasteboard and belly part of pad-lining.

The edges of the pad-lining can always be drawn over the pasteboard until the welt is exactly in the right place, and in this way we can always have nicely-fitting welts, a thing requiring great skill in the old methods of making saddles.

Instead of stitching the welt to the padlining, as above described, it may be stitched to the skirts as in a machine-made saddle, except that it-is stitched to the skirts only in this case, and not through skirts and padlining both, as is done in the machine-made saddle.

In Fig. 6, showing the completed saddle, one side, or half, illustrates the welt stitched to the skirts, as may be seen by the row of stitches down each edge of the skirt on that half of the saddle, while the other half of the saddle illustrates the plan of stitching the welt to the pad-lining, and no stitching is visible; but instead is a creased line on each side of the skirt. The latter more nearly resembles hand-made saddles, and is therefore preferable. Having now the pad ready, as seen in Fig. 5, we put the skirts on, draw the loops up through the openings, put an iron loop stick through them, and finish them up, (if

they are unfinished,) and removing the stick draw in the hearing, or backhand straps to their proper places, thus keying the pads and skirts together at those points.

I should remark that, before putting the flaps on, the pad should be stuEed and quilted, as desired, each half being stuffed from its upper end, when the two are joined together. The tree is now put on in the usual way, the hook catching under the welt and holding up the pad at the center, and the terrets screwing up the pads to the skirts and jockeys at those points, by means of the lower plates 0,

ATENT. QFFICE.

which are beneath the iron and pastehoard stiifeuin g of the pad. If, now, the billets are stitched on, as usual, through skirts and pad, we have these firmly secured together at that point also. Having, now, the skirts and pad firmly secured together at four pointsthe stiffness of the iron band, supplemented .by the pasteboard, and extending the whole length of the pad, serves to hold them together at 'all points, and thus we have a saddle with these parts securely fastened together without any stitching or lacing in. Moreover, under the old systems of making saddles the loops were directly or indirectly fastened to the skirts, and the great strain to which they were subjected tended to tear the skirts from the pad; but by my invention the loops are secured within the pad, and the greater the strain exerted upon the loop the more firmly the pad and skirts are drawn together.

While, however, nothing further is needed to give strength and permanencyto this fastening, it may be desirable, in order to prevent the possibility of gaping, (particularly between the loops and billets where the distance between the .fastenings is greatest,) to use a few secret stitches or a leather cement, or any simple means that may be most convenient. If the top of the pad is covered, before being put to the skirts, with afancy colored enameled muslin, which may be merelypa-sted or glued in, the saddle will still have a finished look, even if the skirts should gape a little.

A gig-saddle thus made costs very-little more than a machine-made saddle, and the labor on it costs only about sixty per cent. of that on a hand-made saddle. Yet this saddle I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Acgig-saddle, provided with metallic bands attached to or within the pad, and extending from the terrets to the billets, or nearly so, the bands operating to strengthen and stifl'en the pad, so that but few points of attachment are necessary to unite it and the skirts securely together, all substantially as shown and described.

In the construction of gig-saddles the loops attacked tothe metallic band within the pad, all as shown and set forth.

3. In a gig-saddle the pad stiifenings and skirts, slotted to allow the full-sized loops to be introducedfrom beneath, substantially as shown and described.

4. A gig-saddle in which theskirts and pad aare keyed or pinned together near their middle by means of the loops and bearing-straps, substantially as shown and described.

5; A gig-saddlein which the pad and skirts are united and securely held together by means of the usual hook, terret, and billet- =fastenings, supplemented by the intermediate loop-fastening and the pad-stifl'euings, all as .shown and described.

JOSIAH B. GATHRIGHT.

Witnesses:

J. E. McGRATH, O. GATHRIG T, J r. 

